Strengthening Education in Nepal for Disarmament “Educating the Educators” in Disarmament Education

 19-20 January 2023 | Kathmandu, Nepal

BACKGROUND

The importance of disarmament, non-proliferation and peace education has been continuously emphasized by the international community, as noted in the United Nations Study on Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Education (A/57/124) and the Secretary-General’s Agenda for Disarmament[1] (2018). In his agenda, the Secretary-General underscored the importance of disarmament education with a view to creating a platform for the sustainable entry of young people into the field of disarmament. The UNODA Disarmament Education Strategy[2] aims to operationalize the SG’s vision to raise awareness and empower individuals with knowledge and skills that will contribute to disarmament. Among other priorities, the strategy places a strong emphasis on capacitating educators as an important means of delivering tailored and authoritative disarmament education to a wider population of students.

Accordingly, UNODA’s Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific (UNRCPD) has conducted various projects and activities that support peace and disarmament education for the Member States in Asia and the Pacific, including, but not limited to, Nepal. Furthering its previous efforts in the region[3], the Centre organized a two-day workshop targeting high school and university educators in Nepal, aimed at raising their awareness and identifying national and regional needs for a more effective dissemination of disarmament education. The project was carried out in cooperation with the Youth Thinkers’ Society (YTS), a civil society organization in Nepal, with financial support of the Republic of Korea.

GOAL

With this project UNRCPD intended to achieve the following:

  1. Gain an understanding of the level of disarmament education currently being delivered to students in secondary and tertiary education in Nepal;
  2. Raise the awareness of educators in Nepal of the meaning and importance of disarmament education by providing basic knowledge on disarmament as well as on the available tools and opportunities to engage in disarmament issues that are provided by the UNODA;
  3. Build and nurture a network of educators at the national level by offering an opportunity in which knowledge and experiences on teaching disarmament education could be shared and discussed;
  4. Identify potential areas of cooperation and support for future disarmament education activities by UNRCPD.

DATE

The workshop took place on 19 and 20 January 2023.

VENUE

The workshop was conducted in Nepal, Kathmandu on the premises of the UN House.

PARTICIPANTS

The workshop targeted high school teachers, university professors and civil society organizations in Nepal. In total, twenty high school teachers from fifteen high schools and eight university professors from universities around Kathmandu, and eight representatives from civil society organizations in Nepal attended the workshop along with two representatives from UNESCO Nepal (16 women, 22 men).

SUMMARY

The first day of the workshop targeted twenty high school teachers from fifteen high schools around Kathmandu. It consisted of four sessions that laid the ground for a basic level of understanding on disarmament and disarmament education, including its importance as a condition for the achievement of sustainable peace and development. It concluded with a group exercise in which participants were asked to share their ideas and views on how disarmament education can be better incorporated into their classes and the pre-existing national curricula on peace and disarmament to achieve an effective dissemination of disarmament education to their students.[4] On the second day, the workshop took place in the form of a group discussion with a few representatives from civil society organizations in Nepal and eight university professors whose classes and research focus are on peace and conflict studies, international security, international development and other areas of social studies. Participants delved into deeper discussions on the status of current peace and disarmament education in Nepal and the prospects for further including this type of education in the future.

For more information and the summary report, please access High School and University Educators Strategize on Ways to Strengthen Disarmament Education in Nepal – UNRCPD – United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific

[1] https://unoda-epub.s3.amazonaws.com/i/index.html?book=sg-disarmament-agenda.epub

[2] UNODA_education_strategy.pdf (un-arm.org)

[3] Some of the representative works carried out by UNRCPD on peace and disarmament education can be found in the links: Baseline Assessment for Peace and Disarmament Education in Asia and the Pacific (2019) and Peace and Disarmament Education Programme in Nepal (2013-2015)

[4] Details of ideas and views proposed by the participants during the group exercise can be found in the Annex attached to the summary report.